Chinese President Xi Jinping has said foreign firms were welcome in China, and that Beijing would not manipulate its currency to boost exports.

Xi Jinping while speaking in Seattle sought to reassure US business leaders, in a wide-ranging speech covering China's economic reforms and cyber crime.

At the start of his state visit to the US, Mr Xi said foreign firms were welcome in China, and that Beijing would not manipulate its currency to boost exports.

He also denied Beijing engages in hacking but said China would co-operate with Washington on the issue.

Both issues have led to strained ties.

Hacking and economic reforms are expected to come up when Mr Xi meets his US counterpart Barack Obama at the White House on Friday.

Xi Jinping's speech at a banquet in Seattle was wide-ranging, friendly and colourful, sprinkled with Chinese proverbs and references to American culture. From Sleepless in Seattle to Walt Whitman, Mr Xi lavished praise on the culture of his hosts.

He was particularly taken, he said, with Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea which follows a fisherman's epic struggle to land a huge marlin.

The president talked about China's struggles too, giving a personal account of his tough teenage years working with peasants in a poor village, with no meat to eat for months on end.

Now the village had an internet connection, as well as plentiful meat, he said. It was a subtle rebuke to rich Westerners who criticise China's rise, reminding them where his country is rising from.

Pointedly for an American audience, he referred to the Chinese Dream which was linked, he said, to his people's yearning for a better life.